Should Product Managers Allow Customers To “Hack” Their Product?

As product managers we believe that we are reasonably smart people. We know what our customers want. That means that we work with our development teams, design a product development definition, and then we create products that will solve problems for our customers. However, I think that we can all agree that we don’t know … Read more

How Video Store Product Managers Manage To Still Hang On

Can anyone remember back in the day when there used to be a video rental store on just about every corner? We’d all head down to the rental store on a Friday with hopes that the latest release would be still in stock. We’d browse the aisles, pick out our one or two movies, perhaps … Read more

What Can Amazon Product Managers Do About The Customers They Don’t Have?

As product managers, we spend a great deal of our time trying to figure out ways to get more people to buy our products. However, there is that very small collection of product managers who have extremely popular products who have a slightly different sort of problem that they have to work out. They really … Read more

What Can McDonalds Product Managers Do To Capture Young Customers?

The product managers at McDonald’s have a problem on their hands. A recent study revealed that among younger burger eaters, the millennials, only one in five has ever eaten a Big Mac burger. For a 61 year-old burger chain, this does not bode well for the future. McDonald’s product managers need to take a look … Read more

How Can Product Managers Get Kids To Buy Groceries?

If you were the product manager for a grocery store, you wouldn’t think that you’d have to worry about getting young people to come into your store and buy things, would you? I mean, we all need the food products that grocery stores sell. Traditionally people have always shopped for food the same way: they … Read more

Product Managers’ Customers Are Now Shopping Online

The times they are a changing. As product managers it is our responsibility to stay on top of trends that are affecting our customers. One very important trend is just exactly how our customers are going about buying things. In the old days, customers would decide that they needed something, get in their car and … Read more

Solving The Challenge Of Making Reordering Products Simple And Easy

So here’s an interesting question for you: when you customer uses up or runs out of your product, how do they go about ordering more from you? Perhaps this question would be better stated “how hard is it to order more of your product?” If you can put yourself in your customer’s shoes for just … Read more

How To Find More Customers For Your Product

Just exactly what does a product manager job description say that we have to do? Yes yes, we are responsible for creating our product development definition, managing it, and delivering our product. However, is that where things stop? Could it be possible that we also have a responsibility to go out and find new customers … Read more

Comcast Discovers How To Reconnect Cord Cutters

By now I would think that you’ve heard about the so-called “cord cutters” who are out there. If you are a product manager working for a cable company these people are the bane of your existence. The cord cutters are the people who have decided that they no longer need to subscribe to cable television … Read more